Governments Should Monitor Verdict, Seek Defendants’ Release July 3, 2024 12:00AM EDT Ahmed Mansoor plays with his children as he speaks to Reuters in Dubai November 30, 2011. © 2011 REUTERS/Nikhil Monteiro (Beirut) – Allies of the United Arab Emirates, including the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union member states, should break their silence on the unfair mass trial of at least 84 political dissidents and human rights defenders, Human Rights Watch said today. They should send observers to a session on July 10, 2024, at which a verdict is to be delivered. In December 2023, while hosting the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), Emirati authorities brought charges against at least 84 defendants, the second largest trial in the UAE’s history, in retaliation for forming an independent advocacy group in 2010. The trial has been marred by myriad fair trial and due process violations, including allegations of ill-treatment that amount to torture, judges directing witness testimony, violations of the principle of double jeopardy, and hearings shrouded in secrecy. “The US, UK, the EU, and other allies of the UAE should be standing up for the 84 brave Emiratis who are facing life sentences simply for expressing their political beliefs and defending human rights,” said Joey Shea, United Arab Emirates researcher at Human Rights Watch. “UAE allies should urge the immediate and unconditional release of these human rights defenders, meet with their families, send trial monitors, and publicly condemn the unfair trial.” In a statement released January 6, Emirati authorities accused the 84 defendants of “establishing and managing a clandestine terrorist organization in the UAE known as the ‘Justice and Dignity Committee.’” The charges appear to come from the UAE’s abusive 2014 counterterrorism law, which sets out punishments of up to life in prison and even death for anyone who sets up, organizes, or runs such an organization. On May 10, the Emirates News Agency (WAM), the UAE’s official government news agency, announced that the verdict in the case would be released on July 10. Human Rights Watch has urged governments to send monitors to observe the trial’s hearings, which the UAE claims are open to the public. No embassy in the UAE has sent such monitors to Human Rights Watch’s knowledge. Human Rights Watch has also requested that governments condemn due process violations and call for the immediate and unconditional release of the defendants. There have been no public statements from UAE allies calling for their release or expressing concern over the trial’s proceedings, though many of those same governments regularly claim that human rights are an important part of their foreign policy. Many of the 84 defendants have been kept in incommunicado solitary confinement for at least a year and have reported abusive detention conditions, including physical assaults, lack of access to medical care and required medicines, incessant loud music, and forced nudity. At least 60 of the defendants were already convicted in 2013 for their involvement with the Justice and Dignity Committee, according to the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center (EDAC). This raises concerns that Emirati authorities are violating the principle of double jeopardy, which prohibits trying people twice for the same offense after they had received a final verdict. While a January statement from WAM claimed the case is “public,” Emirati authorities have severely restricted access to the hearings, even for family members, and have kept secret basic details of the case, including the names of all the defendants. Emirati authorities have prevented defendants’ lawyers from freely accessing case files and court documents. Lawyers have apparently not obtained physical or electronic copies of the court documents, relatives said, and are only able to view the documents on a screen in a secure room under the supervision of security officers. Informed sources said that the lawyers are not allowed to take photos of the documents and are only permitted to take handwritten notes. “This is the second largest unfair mass trial of political dissidents and human rights defenders in the UAE’s history and the international community is failing to flag any concern,” Shea said. “Emirati authorities have long used their country’s economic and security relationships to prevent criticism of its rights record, but rarely, if ever, has the silence from its allies been so deafening.” © 2024 Human Rights Watch

Ministry of foreign affairs forced to say sorry to Canada, Gabon and Burkina Faso embassies after incident Tiago Rogero in Rio de Janeiro, Sun 7 Jul 2024 Security footage shows police apprehending teenagers in Brazil on 3 July. Photograph: @GugaNoblat via X Brazil’s ministry of foreign affairs has been forced to apologise to the embassies of Canada, Gabon and Burkina Faso after three diplomats’ teenage children – all of whom are Black – were searched at gunpoint by police officers. The incident emerged when the mother of a Brazilian boy in the group posted a security camera video online, prompting outrage – but also a weary recognition that such experiences are all too typical for Black youths in Rio de Janeiro. The three diplomats’ children were in Rio for a five-day holiday with a white Brazilian friend, celebrating the end of the school year. All attend the same school in Brasília, where they live. It was their first trip without their parents. Late Wednesday, they were returning from a day at the beach and were about to enter a building in the wealthy neighbourhood of Ipanema when a military police patrol car drew up. Two officers jumped out, ordered the boys to face the wall and searched them at gunpoint. Rhaiana Rondon, the mother of one of the Brazilian boys, said the Black teens were singled out by the police officers during the search. Rondon, who posted the video, said the footage made it clear that her son and his cousin were treated very differently from the Black foreigners. “The officer guided my son much more gently because he is white, while the three Black youths had guns pointed at their heads,” she said. In a statement to a state parliament committee, the teenagers said the officers “even demanded that they showed their private parts to check if there was any drugs underneath”. One of the boys wrote to his parents saying that “when the agents left, they told us not to walk around, or we would be searched again”. Rondon said: “The footage, testimonies, and the children’s accounts are clear: the search was racist.” The three foreign boys are the sons of the Gabon and Burkina Faso ambassadors, and the other is the son of a Canadian diplomat. Julie-Pascale Moudoute-Bell, the wife of the Gabonese ambassador, expressed her indignation to TV Globo, saying: “The police are there to protect. How could they point guns at the heads of 13-year-old boys? … We trust in the Brazilian justice system and we want justice, that’s all.” On Friday, the ambassadors of Gabon, Burkina Faso and Canada were invited the foreign ministry in Brasília, where they received a “formal apology” from the Brazilian government. The ministry stated that it called on the Rio state government to conduct a “thorough investigation and ensure appropriate accountability of the police officers involved in the incident”. Amnesty International Brazil’s executive director, Jurema Werneck, said: “There’s nothing besides racism to explain the attack these Black teenagers suffered.” But she added that such incidents happen daily in Brazil “in the favelas, outskirts, poor and Black communities”. “Unfortunately, the brutality suffered by these teenagers is not the first and, sadly, won’t be the last. … In Brazil, no young Black person is safe”. A recent report found that, in 2022, of the more than 1,300 people killed by the police in Rio, 87% were Black, a figure far above the proportion of Afro-Brazilians in the state’s population, which is 58%. Rio’s military police, which is responsible for patrol duties, said that body camera footage from the two officers involved will be analysed to determine “if there was any excess”. The separate civil police, which handles investigations, said that two of its units – tourist assistance station and racial crimes – are probing the case. Rondon said that the teenagers had been left badly shaken by the incident. “On Thursday, they saw the same patrol car passing by, got really scared, and hid in an ice cream parlour,” said the Brazilian mother. “When they hear a siren now, even if it’s from an ambulance or the fire brigade, they get scared. Rondon said she had given her son all kinds of guidance before the trip because she was worried about violence in Rio. “I warned him to be careful with his phone on the street, not to leave his backpack on the beach chair,” she wrote. “But I never imagined that the police would be the biggest threat.” © 2024 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies

Protect Medical Workers, Patients; Hold Forces Responsible Accountable July 3 2024: Ethiopian security forces have committed widespread attacks amounting to war crimes against medical professionals, patients, and health facilities in the Amhara region. Civilians are bearing the brunt of fighting between the Ethiopian military and Amhara militia known as Fano, which began in August 2023. Ethiopia’s international partners should call for accountability and an end to attacks on healthcare and should resume increased scrutiny of the rights situation in the country. (Nairobi) – Ethiopian security forces have committed widespread attacks amounting to war crimes against medical professionals, patients, and health facilities in the country’s northwestern Amhara region, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 66-page report, “‘If the Soldier Dies, It’s On You’: Attacks on Medical Care in Ethiopia’s Amhara Conflict,” documents how Ethiopian federal forces and a government-affiliated militia have attacked medical workers, healthcare facilities, and transports in at least 13 towns since the outbreak of fighting between Ethiopian federal forces and Amhara militia known as Fano in August 2023. Ethiopia’s international partners should call for accountability and an end to attacks on healthcare and should resume increased scrutiny of the rights situation in the country. “Ethiopian federal forces operating with near impunity are unsurprisingly disregarding civilian lives by attacking medical facilities that are providing desperately needed care,” said Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “So long as the government feels no pressure to hold abusive forces to account, such atrocities are likely to continue.” Between August 2023 and May 2024, Human Rights Watch interviewed remotely 58 victims and witnesses to abuses as well as medical professionals and aid workers. Human Rights Watch also reviewed satellite imagery and verified videos and photographs following an apparent government drone strike on an ambulance in November. Human Rights Watch found that Ethiopian forces endangered or disrupted the functioning of hospitals. Soldiers beat, arbitrarily arrested, and intimidated medical professionals for providing care to the injured and sick, including alleged Fano fighters. The soldiers also unlawfully attacked ambulances and medical transports, interfered with access to humanitarian assistance, and denied the Amhara population the right to health. In January, Ethiopian soldiers detained and interrogated a medical professional for several days in a military camp. “The colonel [interrogating me] called me a ‘Fano doctor,’” he said. “He started asking why I was giving treatment to the Fano. He said [the Fano] are not humans … they are monsters.” Federal forces have obstructed access to medical facilities, including by wrongfully arresting patients on mere suspicion of a Fano affiliation, causing widespread fear for those that may seek or need treatment. International humanitarian law, also known as the laws of war, prohibits attacks on civilians and civilian objects. In addition, it affords special protections to health facilities, medical professionals, patients, and ambulances. Even during an armed conflict, international human rights law remains in effect and contains core obligations for countries to maintain minimum essential levels of the right to health. The fighting in Amhara has disrupted the delivery of medical supplies, leading to acute and prolonged shortages of essential medicines in hospitals and health centers, affecting their ability to provide adequate care. Doctors and health staff have worked under dire and difficult conditions. “We have shortages of oxygen and medication, and since there is no power, we are struggling,” said one doctor working in a hospital in November 2023. “The blood bank has stopped collecting blood. ... Yesterday, we had to tell an expectant mother’s family to come with 20 liters or any amount of fuel they can bring so we can operate on them using the generator.” Doctors seeking to replenish depleted hospital supplies have aroused the suspicion of government forces and in some cases have come under attack, affecting their ability to provide care to patients in a safe environment. On November 30, an apparent drone strike on a clearly marked ambulance in Wegel Tena town killed at least four civilians, badly wounded one, and destroyed much-needed medical supplies. “Psychologically, hospital staff are disturbed and living in fear of another attack,” a doctor said. “All the medications in the ambulance burned. We had used the little budget we had left to procure the medications.” Humanitarian aid agencies working to fill gaps in medical supplies and equipment have also faced an increasingly difficult operating environment since August 2023. Their work has been affected by ongoing fighting, attacks on aid workers, towns frequently changing control, and movement restrictions, including difficulty moving to Fano-controlled areas. Nine aid workers have been killed in Amhara since the fighting started, at least four of them since January. In March, Amhara regional health officials acknowledged that the ongoing conflict in the region between government forces and Fano militias have caused extensive damage to the healthcare system, though they claimed that “extremist forces” had pillaged 967 facilities and seized 124 ambulances. Human Rights Watch wrote to Ethiopian authorities in June concerning the organization’s findings. The Ethiopian government has not responded. Since the United Nations Human Rights Council failed to renew the UN-mandated inquiry on Ethiopia in October 2023, there has been limited international monitoring of the human rights situation in the country. Independent journalists have also had little access to the Amhara region. As part of its global mandate, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report on the human rights situation in Ethiopia on June 14, saying that Ethiopian federal forces and the Fano militia had been involved in numerous violations of international humanitarian law, resulting in over 2,000 civilian casualties in the Amhara region. The Ethiopian government should immediately end attacks on medical professionals, patients, health facilities, and transports in the Amhara region. Ethiopian authorities should also work to strengthen the country’s legal framework to protect health care by passing specific legislation that protects healthcare workers, medical professionals, and health facilities. International donors have acted to rehabilitate damaged health facilities in Amhara and other conflict-affected areas, but concerned governments have not publicly condemned attacks by Ethiopian federal forces nor urged the government to hold those responsible for abuses to account, Human Rights Watch said. Ethiopia’s international partners, notably the African Union and the European Union, should press for resumed international scrutiny of the human rights situation in Ethiopia in multilateral forums. They should also increase support for health services in Amhara, ensure robust independent human rights monitoring in their agreements with the Ethiopian government, and publicly denounce restrictions on aid and attacks against aid workers. “Foreign governments and international organizations have sought to return to ‘business as usual’ with the Ethiopian government despite the absence of normality on the ground,” Bader said. “Continued civilian suffering from the conflict in Amhara means much greater international scrutiny is needed in Ethiopia.” Download the full report in English © 2024 Human Rights Watch

Council Should Extend Mandate for Special Rapporteur July 2 2024: “Patterns of gross human rights violations, including the widespread use of arbitrary and incommunicado detention and enforced disappearance persist unabated” in Eritrea, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Dr. Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, told the UN Human Rights Council. Despite consistent concerns being raised about the dire rights situation across the country, he reported there had been “no indications of any measures taken to improve” it. This assessment, detailed in the report he presented during the council’s 56th session, was sadly unsurprising, given Eritrea’s track record of refusing to cooperate or engage with international and regional human rights mechanisms, despite its membership of the UN Human Rights Council. Eritrea remains one of the only countries in the world to have never accepted a visit by a UN independent human rights expert, and the country has consistently ignored recommendations made by UN experts. It has also ignored repeated calls by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights over the last two decades, including to release detainees and to guarantee the rights to a fair trial, freedom of opinion and expression, religious freedoms, and peaceful assembly. Despite consistent appeals from the UN, the African Commission and civil society, the Government has maintained a policy of indefinite national service, including compulsory military conscription, and has failed to stop abuses against conscripts, including children. Civic space within Eritrea is completely closed: no independent media, independent civil society organizations, or political opposition parties are able to operate within the country, resulting in little to no checks on the executive. Impunity remains the norm and due process rights are systematically flouted. Given this context, international engagement and support for Eritrean human rights defenders is all the more important. In the face of Eritrea’s flagrant and persistent violations, total disregard for human rights mechanisms, and erasure of domestic civic space, the work of the Special Rapporteur shines a much-needed spotlight on the situation in Eritrea, and much-needed support to beleaguered Eritrean civil society. Countries with a vote at the UN Human Rights Council should respond positively to civil society appeals to support a resolution renewing his mandate when it is presented next week, despite moves by Russia, Iran and other rights-abusing Governments to counter the initiative.  They should stand with victims of abuses and the courageous Eritrean human rights defenders, not with rights-abusing governments seeking to undermine international protections. © 2024 Human Rights Watch

June 14 2024: GENEVA- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today called for concrete measures to halt the human rights violations and abuses that continue to endanger reconciliation and peace in Ethiopia. “I urge the parties to the conflict to halt ongoing hostilities and to resolve difference through peaceful means. It is essential that the authorities take all feasible steps to protect civilians, prevent further violations, and ensure there are full investigations to bring those responsible to justice,” Türk said. The High Commissioner’s call came as the UN Human Rights Office issued an update analysing the human rights situation across Ethiopia from January 2023 to January 2024. Violent conflicts, particularly in the Amhara and Oromia regions, led to serious human rights violations and abuses in 2023, the update says. In the northern Tigray region, there was a significant improvement in the human rights situation following the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in November 2022, but concerns persist regarding ongoing violations by members of the Eritrean Defence Forces. In 2023, at least 1,351 civilians were killed in Ethiopia in attacks reportedly carried out by Government forces, Eritrean troops, anti-Government militias and some unknown actors. Of the civilians killed, 740 were in Amhara. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles by Government forces resulted in 248 civilian deaths between 4 August and 31 December 2023, and destroyed vital infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, raising concerns about the extent of compliance of these strikes with international law. The update also details an attack on 29 January 2024, in which at least 89 civilians were killed, reportedly by government troops, in Merawi town near Bahir Dar, the regional capital of Amhara. Overall, the update records 594 incidents of human rights violations and abuses affecting 8,253 victims – a 56 per cent increase compared with 2022. According to the update, State actors were reportedly responsible for some 70 per cent of the violations, while non-State actors accounted for some 22 per cent. Fano insurgents and their allies killed at least 52 civilians and destroyed civilian property, attacked medical personnel, and destroyed ambulances, in violence targeted at government personnel. The State of Emergency, which was declared on 4 August 2023 and expired on 3 June 2024, had resulted in actions by security forces in violation of Ethiopia’s international human rights obligations. The High Commissioner welcome the fact that the authorities had not extended the State of Emergency. “I urge the authorities to release immediately those detained under the former State of Emergency, if they are not charged under currently valid law and tried promptly and fairly. Those who have not been charged should also be released immediately,” he said. “I also call on the authorities to lift the restrictions on movements and resume regular law enforcement operations to protect people.” The update acknowledges the Ethiopian Government’s efforts to promote transitional justice and prevent violence against women and children, as well as its openness to engage in dialogue to resolve the fighting in the Amhara region. Such progressive measures require sustained commitment, the update notes. It highlights progress in social and economic areas, including access to health and education, with programmes such as the national school feeding policy framework and the implementation of a 10-year plan for special needs and inclusive education. Targeted efforts and deployment of sufficient resources are needed to ensure the full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, including for people in conflict-affected areas, the update says. It also acknowledges the Government’s pledges to advance peace, justice, and accountability, made in the context of the high-level event held in Geneva in December to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and calls on the Government to prioritise implementation of these commitments. To read the full report, click here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ohchr-update-human-rights-situation-ethiopia-2023 © 2024 United Nations

By Reuters | June 27, 2024, at 5:22 p.m REUTERS FILE PHOTO: El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele speaks during the launch ceremony of Google El Salvador in San Salvador, El Salvador, April 15, 2024. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas/File Photo SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) -El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said on Thursday that the culture ministry would fire 300 employees who he said were promoting agendas "incompatible" with the government's vision. "Furthermore, we will save public funds in the process," Bukele said on X. "Bitter medicine." Bukele did not elaborate. But last week he appointed Raul Castillo, a former teacher, as culture minister, saying that he wanted to "promote patriotic and family values." Ruling party lawmaker Alexia Rivas wrote on X shortly after Bukele's post: "El Salvador is pro-life, pro-traditional family and the 2030 agenda has no place here," an apparent reference to the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda which includes provisions for a range of human rights. "This is what the people asked for, this is the vision of our president, and this is the path that officials must follow," she said. El Salvador maintains some of the world's harshest anti-abortion laws, while earlier this month, the culture ministry canceled a play by drag artists after receiving complaints from local conservative and religious groups. Bukele took office at the start of June for a second term after winning a landslide re-election, pledging to cure the "illnesses" of the Central American country by prescribing "medicine" to fix the economy, following what he described as a cure for the "cancer of the gangs" during his first term. Bukele garnered massive popularity for transforming security in a country that was once one of the world's most dangerous, but use of mass trials, a mega prison and suspended civil rights have drawn criticism from human rights groups. A former marketing professional, Bukele has created a powerful communications operation that has allowed him to influence what Salvadorans read, watch and hear about their government like no previous leader in the nation of 6.5 million people in the internet age. Critics say Bukele's media juggernaut is helping to undermine the country's fragile democratic institutions. (Reporting by Nelson Renteria; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle and Rosalba O'Brien) Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters. Copyright 2024 © U.S. News & World Report L.P.

June 11 2024: NAIROBI- Tunisian border guards have rounded up migrants and passed them to counterparts in Libya where they have faced forced labour, extortion, torture and killing, according to a confidential U.N. human rights briefing seen by Reuters. The two nations are vital partners in the European Union's efforts to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean from North Africa into southern Europe. Hundreds of migrants in Tunisia were caught in a wave of detentions and expulsions to Libya in the second half of last year, according to the briefing, dated Jan. 23. It was based on interviews with 18 former detainees as well as photographic and video evidence of torture in one of the facilities. Tarek Lamloum, a Libyan human rights expert, said such transfers had taken place as recently as early May. About 2,000 migrants detained by Tunisia had been passed to the Libyans this year, he said, citing interviews with more than 30 migrants The U.N. briefing, which has not been previously reported, was shared with diplomats in the region. "Collective expulsions from Tunisia to Libya and the associated arbitrary detention of migrants are fuelling extortion rackets and cycles of abuse, which are already widespread human rights issues in Libya," the U.N. briefing said. Libyan officials were demanding thousands of dollars in exchange for releasing some migrants, according to the briefing. "The situation serves the interest of those who prey on the vulnerable, including human traffickers," it added. Neither Libyan nor Tunisian authorities responded to requests for comment on the U.N. briefing. A spokesperson for the U.N. mission in Libya said they could not comment. On April 16, Abdoulaye Bathily, then the top U.N. official there, said he was "deeply concerned about the dire situation of migrants and refugees in Libya who endure human rights violations throughout the migration process". The European Union said last year it would spend 800 million euros through 2024 across North Africa to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean. Immigration was a leading concern for voters in European elections last week that saw far-right parties make gains. In the first four months of this year, arrivals of migrants in Europe via the central Mediterranean were down over 60 percent from the same period of 2023. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on June 4 the decline was "above all" due to help from Tunisia and Libya. Rights groups, however, say the EU policy of farming out immigration control to third countries in return for aid leads to abuse and fails to address the underlying issues. In May, Tunisia's President Kais Saied said hundreds of people were arriving every day and his country was coordinating migrant returns with neighbours. The government has in the past said it respects human rights. Libyan authorities say they work with neighbours to solve migration issues. Reuters was unable to verify independently the accounts of abuse in the U.N. briefing. A U.N. fact-finding mission concluded last year that crimes against humanity had been committed against migrants in Libya in some detention centres managed by units that received backing from the EU. A spokesperson for the European Commission did not provide answers to questions sent by Reuters. BURNED ALIVE, SHOT The latest U.N. briefing said there was a pattern where Tunisian border officials coordinated with Libyan counterparts to transfer migrants to either al-Assa or Nalout detention facilities, just over the border in Libya. Migrants are held for periods varying from a few days to several weeks before they are transferred to the Bir al-Ghanam detention facility, closer to Tripoli, the briefing said. The facilities are managed by Libya's Department to Combat Illegal Migration (DCIM) and the Libyan Coast Guard. The U.N. report said that the DCIM has continuously denied U.N. officials access to the locations. Migrants interviewed for the U.N. briefing came from Palestine, Syria, Sudan and South Sudan. Getting information from African migrants was harder as they were being deported and communication with them was more complicated. Three of the migrants interviewed had scars and signs of torture, the briefing said. The U.N. briefing from January described the conditions at al-Assa and Bir al-Ghanam as "abhorrent". "Hundreds of detainees have been crammed in hangars and cells, often with one functional toilet, and no sanitation or ventilation," it said. At Bir al-Ghana, officials allegedly extorted migrants $2,500-$4,000 for their release, depending on their nationality. In the al-Assa facility, border guards burned alive a Sudanese man and shot another detainee for unknown reasons, witnesses told the U.N., according to the January briefing. Former detainees identified people traffickers among the border guard officials working there, it added. "The current approach to migration and border management is not working," the January briefing said, calling for Libya to decriminalise migrants who enter the country illegally and for all international support for border management to adhere to human rights. Reporting by David Lewis; Additional reporting by Tarek Amara in Tunis, Ahmed Elumani in Tripoli; Editing by Daniel Flynn © 2024 Reuters. All rights reserved

This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Representative in the Central African Republic Meritxell Relaño Arana—to whom quoted text may be attributed— at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. © UNICEF/UNI451574/LeMoyne A child rests on a bed in the nutrition clinic at L’hôpital de Bossangoa in Bossangoa, Central African Republic. GENEVA, 2 July 2024 — “Today, the three million girls and boys of the Central Africa Republic face the highest registered level of overlapping and interconnected crises and deprivation in the world. "The Central African Republic (CAR) now holds the tragic distinction of being ranked first among 191 countries as the most at-risk for humanitarian crises and disaster. This dire status underscores the severe and urgent challenges faced by its youngest citizens. “Ten years of protracted conflict and instability in CAR has left every single one of CAR’s three million children at risk. “There is a host of distressing data that speaks to the lives of children in CAR; I will mention just four, though the briefing note James shares has more data: 1 in 2 children do not have access to health services. Around just one-third (37%) of children attend school regularly. Nearly two in three (61%) young women were married before the age of 18 Almost 40% of the children in the country suffer from chronic malnutrition. “Weakened institutions and the constant threat of violence compound the multiple risks to the rights of children. The fact that the crisis in CAR has been stretched out over so many years – and that, sadly, so many other global crises continue to unfold in parallel - means that the children of CAR have become painfully invisible. But their pain and loss are profoundly evident. “However, there is hope. Now is a critical moment; indeed, it is the moment for the international community to rally for a change of course for the children of CAR. “The government’s new National Development Plan, alongside other major commitments to improve children’s rights, mean UNICEF and its partners have a viable mechanism to push for a change of course: to chart a new future for the children and the country. “Amid this rare moment of opportunity, the greatest risk is that the champions these children rely on—international donors, global media, and an informed public—may turn their backs and look away in the face of simultaneous global crises. “In my most clear and candid language: this will mean many children will unnecessarily die; many more will see their futures destroyed. A child is a child, and, as such, it is imperative that the international community does not forget the children of CAR.” © United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

FILE - Syrians wait to cross into Syria near Antakya, Turkey, Feb. 21, 2023. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused opposition parties of stoking racism, July 1, 2024, a day after Syrian-owned shops were set afire in a central Turkey neighborhood. Turkish authorities have taken into custody 67 people accused of going on a rampage after a Syrian national was accused of sexually harassing a 7-year-old female relative. Outraged residents overturned cars and set shops ablaze in the central city of Kayseri on Sunday, demanding Syrians leave. According to The Associated Press, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attributed the violence to opposition parties advocating for refugee returns. “No matter who they are, setting streets and people’s houses on fire is unacceptable,” Erdogan said. When Syria’s civil war began in 2011, Turkey welcomed Syrian refugees, becoming the leading host of refugees worldwide. As their numbers increased and Turkey faced economic challenges, Turkey witnessed a surge in anti-immigrant sentiment. Turkey, home to approximately 3.6 million Syrian refugees, has experienced several incidents of xenophobic violence in recent years. These outbreaks frequently have been sparked by rumors circulating on social media and messaging apps. In August 2021, groups of men attacked Syrian-owned businesses and homes in Ankara following a deadly brawl involving an 18-year-old man. The status of Syrian refugees remains a contentious topic in Turkish politics, with Erdogan’s political rivals in last year’s election pledging to return them to Syria. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya reported that Turkish civilians apprehended the Syrian national accused of harassing the girl and handed him over to police. The girl, along with her siblings and mother, was placed under state protection to receive psychological support. “Turkey is a state of law and order. Our security forces continue their fight against all crimes and criminals today, as they did yesterday,” Erdogan was quoted as saying. © Voice of America 2024

Erbil International Airport in Erbil, Iraq March 17, 2020. © 2020 Azad Lashkari/Reuters (Beirut) – Iraqi authorities in Baghdad and Erbil have arbitrarily detained and deported Syrians to Damascus and to parts of northeast Syria under the control of Kurdish-led forces, Human Rights Watch said today. Iraqi authorities have deported some Syrians even though they possessed official Iraqi documents, enabling them to stay and work in the country or were registered as asylum seekers with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Iraq hosts approximately 280,000 Syrians, with the vast majority of them in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). While parts of Syria have not had active conflict hostilities since 2018, Syria remains unfit for safe and dignified refugee returns. Deporting asylum seekers breaches Iraq’s obligations as a party to the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT) and under the customary international law principle of nonrefoulment, that is, not to forcibly return people to countries where they face a clear risk of torture or other persecution. “Iraq should immediately end its distressing campaign of arbitrary arrests and deportations of Syrians who have fled to Iraq for safety,” said Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch. “By forcibly returning asylum seekers to Syria, Iraq is knowingly placing them in harm’s way.” In August 2023, the Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq banned the deportation of any Syrian refugee from Iraq. Nevertheless, on March 18, 2024, Iraqi authorities launched a campaign targeting foreigners who violate residency rules, resulting in the detention and deportation of many Syrians after raids on their homes and workplaces. And on April 3, 2024, the Kurdistan Regional Government suspended KRI visa issuance for Syrians, reportedly at the request of the federal government in Baghdad amid broader efforts to regulate foreign labor. Between April 19 and 26, Human Rights Watch spoke with seven Syrians by phone and in person in Erbil and Baghdad, four of whom were at Erbil International Airport awaiting deportation. Four had valid Iraqi residence permits and three were registered with the UNHCR. Some are not identified by name for their protection. The Iraqi Ministry of Interior did not respond to Human Rights Watch’s multiple requests for comment. People interviewed reported being arrested in raids on their workplace or on the streets, and two said they were arrested at residency offices while trying to renew their permits. Authorities reportedly did not consider their asylum seeker status nor provide consistent opportunities to appeal their deportation orders. A 43-year-old Syrian man from Aleppo was detained at a checkpoint in Diwaniyah city south of Baghdad. After 12 days in detention, he was brought before a judge and presented his UNHCR asylum seeker certificate to no avail. He received a fine and a deportation order to Syria. Although he has filed an appeal, his lawyer said that his chances of success are slim. “My life is in danger in Syria,” the man told Human Rights Watch. “I can’t go back to Aleppo, and I don’t want to go to northeast Syria.” His 16-year-old son has been detained in Karrada, Baghdad, since April 14 for violating residency laws, while his other son has been detained since March 19, also for violating residency laws, without being brought before a judge. He was the only one interviewed who had been given the opportunity to appeal his deportation order. None of the other Syrians interviewed had appeared before a judge during or after their detention, and all were summarily deported. The 18-year-old son of Nawal, a Syrian woman in her 40s from Aleppo, was detained by the Asayish, or Kurdish security forces, while selling water near a traffic light in Erbil. When Nawal went to the detention center where he was being held, she too was arrested despite holding a valid residency permit. She said Kurdish authorities told them that they must purchase tickets to Syria and leave Iraq or face continued detention. The Asayish escorted Nawal and her son in handcuffs through border control at the Erbil airport, where they spent four days stuck in the departures terminal trying to collect enough money to book a flight to Damascus. “Syria is not safe, but there is nowhere else we can go. No other country will let us in,” Nawal said. Immediately after arriving in Damascus, Nawal and her son paid a smuggler to take them to Lebanon. The deportation campaign has left Syrians living in fear. During Ramadan, a 23-year-old man woke up at 5 a.m. as usual and left his house in Baghdad to go to work. “I saw a police car in the street in front of my workplace. I ran home and stayed there for two days because I was so afraid of arrest,” he said. He said he worries that having an asylum seeker certificate from UNHCR will not be enough to protect him from being deported back to Daraa in southern Syria. “Since the Iraqi government announced the expulsion of all illegal workers, every day, or at least three times a week, the police come to my workplace and search for me,” said a 25-year-old man from Sweida in southern Syria. “The employer and other staff warn me, and I run to hide, while another staff member covers my position. They always ask the employees if there are Syrians working in the place.” “The situation is unstable in Sweida,” he said. “There are many different militias. When they know an expatriate has returned to the city, they will kidnap him until he pays ransom.” On May 12, Baladi News reported that the Iraqi government had released 47 detained Syrians from Sweida without deporting them. In July 2023, the federal government in Baghdad arrested and deported three Syrian Kurds for breaching residency rules. At that time, the New Arab reported that another 30 Syrians were detained in Baghdad for similar residency violations and faced the possibility of being deported. Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Cyprus, and Turkey have been increasingly facing the threat of summary deportation. Human Rights Watch has documented numerous instances in which Syrian security agencies have arbitrarily detained, kidnapped, tortured, and killed refugees who returned to Syria between 2017 and 2021. As recently as July 2023, Human Rights Watch found that returnees had been tortured in Syrian military intelligence custody and conscripted to serve in Syria’s military reserve force. Other human rights groups, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria (COI), and the UNHCR also maintain that Syria remains unsafe for returns. In March 2024, the COI said that Syria is experiencing a “new wave of violence” not seen since 2020. The Iraqi government should immediately halt its campaign of arbitrary arrests, detention, and deportations of Syrian asylum seekers. Iraqi authorities should establish a workable system for determining refugee status in line with international standards. Iraq should also consider implementing procedures to facilitate getting work and residence permits for those with irregular status. This should include maintaining collaboration with the UNHCR to ensure proper protection of refugee rights. International donor governments should use their leverage to advocate against summary deportations and forced returns which amount to a breach of nonrefoulement obligations, Human Rights Watch said. Iraq is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention nor its supplementary 1967 Protocol. The Political Refugee Law No. 51 of 1971 acknowledges political and “military” refugees, but the government stopped granting refugee status to Syrians who arrived after 2011. UNHCR registers Syrians in federal Iraq and issues them asylum-seeker certificates, which they can use to register with the Permanent Committee for Refugees under the Ministry of Interior, where they are categorized as “displaced from border areas of Syria and received for humanitarian reasons” and issued personal identification cards which exempt them from the Foreign Residency Law. The Kurdistan Regional Government, on the other hand, acknowledges Syrians as asylum seekers, which entitles them to obtain humanitarian residence permits following registration with UNHCR. “The Iraqi government is obligated to ensure that Syrian asylum seekers’ rights are protected in accordance with both international refugee law and the ruling of the Supreme Judicial Council,” Sanbar said. “Unfortunately, the Iraqi authorities are doing the opposite by sending Syrian asylum seekers back to precarious conditions in Syria.” © 2024 Human Rights Watch

June 20 2024: GENEVA — A human rights expert says the Eritrean government is maintaining its iron grip on society by systematically repressing the fundamental rights and freedoms of its people through violent and threatening means. “The human rights situation in Eritrea remains dire. Patterns of gross human rights violations, including the widespread use of arbitrary and incommunicado detention and enforced disappearance persist unabated,” Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea, told the U.N. Human Rights Council Thursday. “The authorities continue to enforce a system of indefinite military national service that amounts to forced labor and has been consistently linked to torture and inhuman or degrading treatment,” he said. This is the fourth report on Eritrea submitted by Babiker to the council since he was appointed special rapporteur in September 2020. Regretfully, he observed that nothing has changed over the years. The same issues of concern continue to be raised time after time, he said, noting that no measures have been taken to improve and change “policies and practices that perpetuate the human rights crisis in the country.” The report finds that “due process rights continue to be systematically violated,” that hundreds of dissidents, human rights defenders, religious leaders, journalists and other perceived government critics are arbitrarily detained “for indefinite and prolonged periods without ever being charged or tried.” The report says civic space continues to be completely closed in Eritrea; that there is no freedom of expression, association, and assembly; no independent media; and that dissent is systematically suppressed, “including through arbitrary detention or enforced disappearance.” The special rapporteur told the council that “the stifling of civic engagement andsuppression of critical voices by the Eritrean authorities also extends to Eritrean communities worldwide.” He said Eritrean authorities have developed a pattern of “transnational repression” to control diaspora politics and silence pro-democracy activists abroad through methods such as kidnappings and enforced disappearances, surveillance, violence, threats, harassment and smear campaigns. “Over the past year and a half, we have witnessed an escalation of violence and polarization in the diaspora, which is hurting Eritrean communities and society at large,” he said. “Clashes between Eritrean government supporters and detractors in dozens of cities across the globe have resulted in several Eritreans killed, hundreds injured, dozens arrested, and public property being destroyed.” Despite the accumulating dangers abroad, Babiker said that Eritreans continued to flee the grave human rights situation in their country, noting that an estimated 17% of the population has sought asylum as of 2024. Commenting on another issue, Babiker noted that Eritrean forces continue to be present in parts of the Tigray region of Ethiopia, though Eritrea is not party to the November 2022 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, which purportedly ended the war in that region. Babiker said Eritrean forces in Tigray “continue to be involved in human rights and international humanitarian law violations,” including extrajudicial killings, kidnappings, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and forced labor. The presentation of the special rapporteur’s report to the council coincided with Eritrea’s “Martyr’s Day,” a day of remembrance for those who perished in the war while fighting for Eritrea’s independence between 1961 and 1991. That fact was not lost on Habrom Zerai Ghirmal, charge d’affaires at the Permanent Mission of Eritrea in Geneva, who responded to Babiker’s report “with a heavy heart.” He lashed out at the special rapporteur for participating in “the annual ritual of demonizing Eritrea” on this day of “immense historical importance.” He said that “Eritrea abhorred that once again, the very countries today sponsoring the resolution against Eritrea were the very same states that prolonged the border conflict by refusing to uphold their moral and legal obligations as guarantors and witnesses of the agreements signed.” “Those states that engineered the country-specific mandate, the nine-year-long illegal and unfair United Nations sanctions…did not have the moral authority to talk about the promotion of human rights in Eritrea,” he said. Undeterred by the reprimand, Babiker called on member states to maintain international scrutiny of Eritrea. “The international community must not forsake Eritrean victims of violations,” he said, while urging the Eritrean government to take “meaningful steps toward reform." Credit: Voice of America

Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC. credit:Architect of the Capitol NIGERIA AND SUDAN CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING Tuesday June 25 – 10am - Rayburn 2255 Moderator: Alex Fox Panel 1 1. Dr Charles Jacobs (Americans for Peace & Tolerance) - The jihads in Israel & Africa. - same enemy/same fight 2. Rep Frank Wolf (Rtd) - How to handle on what is happening in Nigeria and the current situation in Sudan. 3. Dr. Greg Stanton (Genocide Watch) - Why are Nigeria and Sudan currently undergoing two of the deadliest genocides in the world? Panel 2 4. Dr. Okere Sylvester (Strategic Groups USA) – Genocide and IRF violations example: Christmas Day Attacks Leah Sharibu Deborah Emmanuel 5. Dauwd Salih, Sudanese activist 6. Olga Washington (Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel) – The need to stand up for Africa while being an African-American Panel 3 7. Robert Destro (former Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights) - National security and budget implications 8. Faith McDonnell (Katartismos Global) – Need for the US government to stand up hold accountable African countries like Sudan and Nigeria via resolution advocacy - need to remember the past and face the present 9. Rabbi Abraham Cooper (former Chair USCIRF) - Why are US Government’s IRF policies are being ignored in the Middle East and Africa